Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.

It has been a while since the last blog post
– and there have been a number of development and changes with the PALET
Project to report, which are summarised below:

From one Lloyd to Another

In May of this year, David Lloyd (Senior
Assistant Registrar) took over from Andy Lloyd (no relation!) as Project
Manager of PALET. Andy has taken on a new role here at Cardiff, managing a cross-institutional
Project concerned with Assessment Matters. Fortunately, Andy has not been physically
relocated and the Project Team are able to draw upon the knowledge, experience
and learning gained through his management of PALET to date. We are also
fortunate that David has been involved in PALET from Project initiation – both
at an operational level and a strategic level through his membership on the
Project Steering Group.

Technical Options

The team from Information Services have been
working on an options analysis paper, analysing the requirements gathered by
PALET to date and exploring the most appropriate technical solutions. It has
now been agreed that the formal programme approval process will be managed by
SITS Process Manager. Technical options are still being explored for the
delivery of the “knowledgebase” and the facility for online support, guidance
and dialogue, but it is looking likely that the tool ‘Connections’ within the
University’s Modern Working Environment will be able to deliver what we want.

Project Scope

Having read the overview of the Interim
Reports submitted by all of the design projects, changing project scope seems
to be a common challenge for many. There has been ongoing debate about
precisely what might realistically be achieved with the time and resource
allocated to PALET. I.e. whether the new process will accommodate the design of
only New Programmes (around 5% of programme
level developments) or whether it might be extended to deal with major changes
to existing programmes (around 95% of programme level developments).

Now that the technical solution has been
agreed, it appears that it will be
feasible to design a process that can accommodate major changes to existing
programmes as well as entirely new programmes. This is good news, as it means
that PALET will have a much larger impact across the Institution than
previously thought.

Defining
the Detail

It is within the context described above
that the Project Team have been working to develop the detail of a New Process.
There are also a number of wider University initiatives/discussions with which
PALET must align, particularly those around the areas of Portfolio Planning and
Programme Information.

The Project Team are still in the process of
developing the detail of the New Process, and intend to present it to the
University’s Academic Standards and Quality Committee later this year for
consideration. Watch this space…